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TERM SHEET: You’ve had quite a year — Snap went public. Walmart acquired Bonobos. Stitch Fix filed for an IPO. Tell me about your investment thesis. What do you look for in a company or founder before investing?

LIEW: We’re usually looking for some indication that companies can become part of popular culture in the future. We’re looking for some signal that the company is not niche, and it will expand beyond what everyone will be doing in the future.

One of the ways we do that is we look for services that attract a lot of young female users initially. It’s a service that could make sense for a whole lot of people, but for whatever reason, the initial user base is young and female. We think that young women are the early adopters of popular culture. They’re kind of hit-makers for the rest of society.

You wrote Snapchat’s first big check in 2012. What did you see in the company then that made you want to invest?

Snapchat was highly engaging with young women, which is predictive of something being used broadly in the future. It showed incredible growth, incredible engagement, and incredible retention. That really caught our attention because we look for something that has a scalable, repeatable way of growing, and this appeared to be doing so through word of mouth. Snapchat was definitely creating a habit because we could tell from the engagement and retention, people were using the app several times a day.

Finally, we look for a unique insight from the founders that explains why this is all happening. We needed to know that they didn’t just get lucky but that they will continue growing the business in the future. This is obvious now, but this was a unique insight back in 2012 when Evan Spiegel said that Facebook and Instagram are highlight reels for your life. You use them when you’re feeling happy, excited, and proud. They give people performance anxiety about what they’re willing to put on social media. If you’re only seeing the top 10% of somebody’s life, you don’t really know the whole person. Snapchat allowed its users the freedom to be able to put things up that weren’t “Instagram-ready.”

What do you think about Snap’s performance since it went public?

I actually don’t think about the company’s performance since it went public. I think about the performance since it was founded. That, to me, is the more relevant metric. In the spring of 2012 when we invested, it had tens of thousands of users. Today, it’s in the hundreds of millions. It employs tens of thousands of people, it generates hundreds of millions of dollars, and it’s touching the lives of a good portion of the Western world every single day. That’s pretty remarkable.

It’s been reported that there was a misunderstanding with the terms of the deal. (Spiegel reportedly paid less attention to the exact terms that gave Lightspeed veto power over investment at Snap & regretted it later.) What do you think about the evolution in recent years from founder-friendly investing to more of a climate of governance?

I think that everything is a pendulum, and market conditions can change from one side to another over time. I do think it’s important to understand that some people will try to portray Evan as a naive founder. But he’s an incredibly sophisticated entrepreneur, and I think people can see that from the smart decisions he has made through the course of the life of his company. So yes, things can somehow get confused, but he’s a very sophisticated business person. No one can confuse Evan into doing something.

So you’re saying those reports about the misunderstanding of the terms were exaggerated?

I think that everything that has ever been done with Snapchat is something Evan has understood. He was well-advised by really smart people.

VENTURE DEALS

• Intersection, a New York-based smart cities technology and media company, raised $150 million in funding. Graham Holdings Company led the round, and was joined by investors including ArrowMark Partners and NewSpring.

• Compass, a New York-based real estate technology company, raised $100 million in Series E funding at a $1.8 billion valuation. Investors include Fidelity Investments, IVP, and Wellington Management.

• Leanplum, a San Francisco-based mobile marketing platform, raised $47 million in Series D in funding. Norwest Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including Canaan Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Shasta Ventures.

• EOC Pharma Group, a China-based oncology-focused development and commercialization company, raised $32 million in Series B funding. Taikang Investment led the round, and was joined by investors including Sequoia China and H&Q Asia Pacific.

• MyMusicTaste, a South Korea-based fan-initiated concert making platform for music artists, raised $11 million in Series C funding, according to TechCrunch. KTB Network led the round, and was joined by investors including Stonebridge and Yellow Dog. Softbank Ventures Korea, Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, Formation 8, Bokwang Investment and Golden Gate Ventures also participated. Read more.

• Resonate, a Reston, Va.-based provider of SaaS-enabled real-time consumer intelligence and engagement solutions, raised $8 million in funding. Argentum led the round, and was joined by investors including Revolution Growth and Greycroft Partners.

• LogDNA, a San Francisco-based log management platform, raised $7 million in Series A funding. Initialized Capital led the round.

• NeuVector, a Milpitas, Calif.-based container firewall company, raised $7 million in Series A funding. Hummer Winblad Venture Partners led the round.

• Equalum, a Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv-based provider of an enterprise data beaming platform, raised $5 million in Series A funding. Investors include Innovation Endeavors and GE Ventures.

• Coconut Software Corporation, a Canada-based enterprise appointment scheduling software company, raised CAN $4.2 million ($3.3 million) in Series A funding. Information Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including ScaleUp Ventures and StandUp Ventures.

• Rightway Healthcare, a New York-based patient navigation and analytics company, raised $2 million in seed funding. UHNW led the round.

• VisitPay (fka iVinci Health), a Boise, Idaho patient financial health platform, raised funding of an undisclosed amount. Norwest Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including Ascension Ventures.

PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS

• Bioclinica, a portfolio company of Cinven, acquired MDDX Research & Informatics, a San Francisco-based medical research image management platform.

IPOs

• Sterling Bancorp, a mortgage loan company based out of Southfield, Mich., plans to raise $130 million in an offering of 10 million shares(23% insider) between $12 to $14 a piece. In 2016 the company posted income of $33.2 million with loans of $2 billion. Real estate developer Scott Seligman and his family backs the company. Sandler O’Neill and Partners is underwriter in the deal. The company has filed to list on the Nasdaq.

• Metropolitan Bank Holding, A New York City-based bank , said it raised $109 million in an IPO of 3.1 million shares at $35 a piece, above its $31 to $35 range. The company posted assets of $1.6 billion by mid-2017, with income of $5 million in 2016. J.P. Morgan, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, and Piper Jaffray are underwriters in the deals. Metropolitan plans to list on the NYSE as “MCB.”

• Bluegreen Vacations, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based timeshare resort company, plans to raise $110 million in an offering of 6.5 million shares(42% insider) at a range of $16 to $18 a piece. In 2016, the company posted revenue of $662.6 million and income of $75 million. BBX Capital backs the company. Stifel and Credit Suisse are bookrunners in the deal. The company plans to list on the NYSE as “BXG.”

• Fireman B.V. or InflaRx, a Jena, Germany,-based pharmaceutical company developing treatments for inflammatory diseases, raised $100 million in an offering of 6.7 million shares(40% insider) at $15 a piece. In 2016, InflaRx posted loss of 8.9 million euro, or $10.5 million. Bm-t betetiligungsmanagement thüringen, Staidson Biopharmaceuticals, and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau A.d.ö.R. back the company. J.P. Morgan, Leerink Partners, and BMO Capital Markets are underwriters in the deal. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq as “IFRX.”

• CBTX, a commercial bank based out of Houston, Texas, raised $62 million in an offering of 2.4 millions shares at $26 a piece, the high end of its range. The company recorded loans of $2.2 billion for 2016 and income of $27.2 million. Stephens, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, and Sandler O’Neill + Partners are underwriting the deal. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq as “CBTX.”

EXITS

• James Hardie Industries plc agreed to acquire XI (DL) Holdings GmbH and its subsidiaries from Xella International S.A. in an all-cash transaction valued at €473 million ($549 million).